So after some time on here reading and researching, I finally took the plunge and started on some mods.

Over the weekend, I installed some cat bypass pipes from Leistung Motorsports in Colorado. What a great improvement in the exhaust sound! At first I was a little disappointed because it didn't sound very different when I first took the pepper out for a ride. But then I stood behind the exhaust and let my buddy give the throttle a few blips. Pure music! I guess the Germans are just a little too good at soundproofing the interior - I still can barely hear the pipes when I'm driving around, but I know what it sounds like behind me.

A couple of notes on the bypass pipes. Rob at Leistung was super helpful when I called him with a few questions before ordering. He ended up sending me a new version of their pipes with adjustable hanger arms. That's a useful little modification. Using the adjustable hangers and stock bushings, I was able to locate the pipes where I wanted them without shimming anything. It gets a little tight on the drivers side between the floorpan and the tranny crossmember, so being able to lock the bypass pipe equidistant between them was a benefit. Overall, I was very happy with the pipes. They look great, have smooth inner diameters, and fit perfectly.

Installing them was relatively easy. Leistung had a six page instruction guide that was pretty detailed. Having a friend help made the job much easier - especially since we ended up cracking all six bolts on the cats when trying to remove them. Chicago winters+salt means plenty of rust. The new bolts that came with the kit are stainless, so I hope they hold up better than the OEM bolts. Also received 2 new copper gaskets, which were handy because one of the gaskets was slightly damaged when we pried the cat off the downpipe above it. I will say a flexible socket head is a must. It's pretty tight under there and we did the whole installation with the car on the ground.

Here's a link to a video clip of the exhaust post-install:

On Monday, my Leistung intake pipes are arriving. Looking forward to seeing how they perform. I don't think they look as nice as the Fabspeed or EVOMS intakes, or even the APRs, but I have a feeling they're going to work quite well. I'll update this post when they're installed - but it probably won't be until April.

I've been in conferrals with Midwest Eurosport here in Chicago about the mod plan and they're going to be installing new diverter valves and doing an Upsolute tune once I have a week of driving with the new intakes installed. I'll update once that is accomplished.

 

There's nothing like the sound of a v-8 with pipes!! Will you be doing any dyno runs and what do you expect to gain from these mods?

 

Hey There! Congrats on the new mods! Sounds awesome in the vid!. I've heard Rob has made some tweaks on the intake kit so that it "looks" better, but with the engine cowlings on, you can barely see the intake pipes anyways and it functions great as it should And, I've seen the secondary pipes and the adjustable hangers look great!

Once you're ready, you should try the Leistung Primary Downpipes! Putting those on my CTT officially made it a "beast" lol. And you can HEAR it now for sure, even with the great sound proofing the CTT has.

Good luck with your new additions, I'm loving mine. Please post some more vids and any dyno results!

 

It definitely now sounds the way it always should have. Primary downpipes would be interesting... Not sure I want to have no cats on there though. I can't imagine how tough it was to install those. There's so little room in there. Kudos to you 03EvoIII!

After all the mods are done, I would love to see an 80hp gain at the motor and similar gain on the torque. Upsolute claims 65HP/81TQ on the tune, but that's always a gamble. Unfortunately, without a pre-mod dyno run, I may never know.

Eurosport has a single-axle dyno so I won't be doing a run there. I think I located another place with a two-axle dyno so I might do a post-mod run there. We'll see how much time I have in April...

 

I also wish I would have dyno'd before my mods. Oh well. How much is your upsolute tune going to cost?? I have been searching all over for a piggy back ecu that's compatible, but so far no luck.

Oh and I didn't install my primary downpipes, lol. I figured I'd let some other lucky guys bust-up their knuckles doing that. I did put on my secondaries though and intake which was pretty easy! Realistically 4-6 hours for a shop to complete the install for the primary downpipe install. (for reference if you ever think about doing it) Let us know how the tune works out!

 

The Upsolute tune is about $750. Dealers can install the tune on-site. Eurosports is not a dealer, so we'll have to ship the ECU unfortuantely.

http://www.upsolute.com/content/blog...17/36/lang,en/

I haven't been able to find anything bad written about the Upsolute Cayenne turbo tunes yet, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. It's a nice price when compared to EVOMS or Revo or some of the others that I've seriously considered

 

How do they compensate for different mods? It sounds like they have a preset tune, but nothing customizable for particular mods..It's a pretty good price though.

 

They can compensate for mods, but I don't know the details yet on how they change the mapping. I figured I would explore that further in April before we send the ECU out.

Here is my Upsolute forum post regarding that question.

http://www.upsolute.com/component/op...id,54/lang,en/

 

^^^Thanks ExEng!! ^^^

I've been doing a little research too. And I have found that the ProEFI 48 ECU, may work as a standalone/piggy back ecu on our platform. The unit is about $700 ish, not including a universal harness and sensors. This way I can tune fuel/control timing/O2 Feedback/Fuel pressure feedback/and eliminate the air flow meters! Which will work great for the turbo upgrades I would like to do next summer!

Very interested in seeing how yours comes out!! Sounds way easier, lol!

 

Starting to make some progress again. Took the truck in for a dyno run this morning and then dropped it off at Midwest Eurosport for installation of the Leistung intakes, diverter valves, new plugs, and an Upsolute tune.

I have to say I'm a little concerned with the "pre" dyno data. Graphs are attached. Dyno model was a DynoDynamics. I don't know if I have bad data, a bad truck, or what. Comments welcome. WHP came in very low (I think...) at about 300 WHP. I was expecting 400 WHP. And the HP curve has a weird dip in it. Torque came in about 400 ft-lbs at the wheels, which does seem reasonable, though it's not a very flat curve.

Air-fuel ratio was also unexpectedly low at around 10:1 (or lower) at high RPM and measured at the tailpipe. Intake temp was 112 degrees F - so maybe the ECU was running it rich to keep the cylinders cool??? Any thoughts would be much appreciated. I'll be running it again in about two weeks after I get the car back with the tune and other goodies installed.

Video of one of the dyno pulls, just for fun!

 

I got the Leistung intakes installed, as well as billet diverter valves, new plugs, and the Upsolute ECU tune. Results are great!



Putting down about 440HP at the wheels and 460 lb-ft of torque (not shown). Can't really do a direct comparison to my pre-mod dyno run because this was a different machine, but there is no doubt that the HP has increased measureably.

Also, driveability is much improved. Throttle response is more linear and the power from the turbos comes on in a more controlled fashion.

The intakes definitely add a tiny bit of noise, but I like it. You can hear the air sucking in now when the turbos wind up. And you really hear the diverter valves when they dump boost - sounds like two little "pops" when you let off the gas.

Boost is pegged at the needle stop now. Eurosports installed a boost port to measure manifold pressure, but I didn't have a chance to get a reading yesterday. The air-fuel ratio has been leaned out (either by the tune or automatic ECU adjustment) and the engine is now running a little lean at low RPMs, but it settles down to 12:1 once the power really comes on.

I've been mostly stuck in taffic since getting the tune , but the few open-highway miles I've been able to put on show a slight increase in MPG. Nice little surprise!

Now on to the radio... Getting my Kenwood DNX-9990HD installed next week. Then, hopefully, I'm done for a while.

 

great numbers!! Can you overlay your air fuel on that graph or did they not print one? I'm seeing my a/f drop at ~3800 rpm all the way to 11:1. I'm getting a front mount inter-cooler and full hard piping built and installed in early May!!...after that I will get my tune, then get the beast on the rollers to see what she does!! Can't wait!

 

Great to hear your intercoolers are almost ready to go! That should give you a nice little cold air charge coming in. Good luck with it. Let us know how the install and tune go.

Here are the rest of numbers from my last run. Most runs were showing an AFR around 14.5:1 at low RPM and 12:1 to 12.25:1 at high RPMs. This is the leanest run I had.

If you look at the attachments to my earlier post, you can see the swing in AFR before and after the tune. Can't directly compare because we were using tail-pipe sniffers in both cases and, according to my understanding, they can be a little off.

 

terrific #'s. I've been avoiding the mods but you've got me re-thinking that decision! Also, interested in how your Kenwood works out. I was looking at the unit but have decided to hold out for the Alpine INE-z982HD. Great #'s on the tune

 

Thanks! I too avoided the mods until I spent some time reading here and got comfortable with the "safe" ones. The Upsolute was the only big question, but I haven't found any significant complaints in the last ten years about them, so I gave it a shot. The reasonable price for that plus the hardware from Leistung made for a pretty compelling argument.

Good luck with the Alpine. I just checked it out - it looks HUGE! That will be very nice.